Intermingle
by Crowsister
Summary: Prequel to Aurorawolfa's CATS vs. DOGS. A flock of birds meets a pack of outcasts. Can they coexist together or will daggers come out of the cloaks?
1. Prologue

Glossary: (these may be wrong as I used Google Translate to get these. Feel free to correct me)  
>cabrón = bastard in Spanish<br>assail = assholes in Irish

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><p>And now…the prologue of <span>Intermingle<span>! I finally settled on a plot I like that actually makes sense!

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><p>Sudden light disturbed my forced sleep. Strong hands held my four biceps. I groaned, opening my eyes. I was being dragged by two men through a white hallway. I would have knocked their skulls together, but I felt too weak…even to kick my dragging feet a little. I muttered, "I'll…I'll get ye, lads."<p>

"Good luck in that condition, you fucked up freak," one of the guards chuckled, only to be smacked by another guard, "What, Emile?"

"Don't taunt him. He took out an entire brigade before a sniper managed to shoot a tranq in 'im," the other guard, Emile, growled. I smirked, proud of what I did. The other guard growled and went to hit me, but Emile stopped him. "Just drag him, Estéban. He'll be Sharptooth's problem soon enough."

"Wish it was sooner," the other guard, Estéban, grumbled as they dragged me. I had blocked them out, trying to figure out how to escape. My last attempt of charging did not work as well as I thought it would…as much as I hate to admit it, I need an ally down here. I looked to the cells as we passed…I wasn't surprised to see all of the cells contained children. My concerned glance was met with blank eyes of all colors. No emotions echoed through their eyes…it made me want to _cry_. But then I heard one long, angry howl echo through the hall. It lit a spark of hope inside of me.

Emile sighed deeply, "Fenrir's awake again. Damn…I was hoping to get him in before it was awake again."

I growled, "What the hell did they do to these children? Who is Fenrir?"

"You'll see," Estéban snickered, holding me as Emile clicked a few buttons. The howling stopped abruptly, making me worry for this "Fenrir". The door slid open revealing a slight surprise. It was a wee lass restrained to the wall by thick metal straps. Her skin was pale and her eyes a sickly yellow. But those eyes held a wild defiance, a yearning to be free…just like me own probably did.

"Here's your stop, you cabrón," Estéban growled, throwing me in. I grunted as my face hit the floor. They laughed shutting the door tight.

I growled, "Idiotic assail…I'll get them…if it's the last thing I do…" I pushed myself up, slowly climbing the wall. My fingers left round dents where I grabbed the wall. I steadied myself with one hand and used the other three to rip off the lass's restraints. "Ye alright, lass?"

"I-I think so," she whispered, probably scared that she'd be hurt if she was any louder. "B-but why d-do y-you ask? No one's cared about m-me b-before…" Her eyes widened as I revealed the gills on my neck and the two green tentacles on my back.

"I care," I replied softly, "Because I'm like you. See? Watch." Using some of the energy I had left, I made my gills, tentacles, and two of my arms disappear. "Me name is Octavius."

"They call me Fenrir, but I don't like that name," the lass replied quietly, "It's the name of a monster…and I don't think I'm a monster…am I a monster, Mr. Octavius?"

"Of course not," I answered, hugging her. She was shaking heavily, showing her emotions quite clearly.

"C-can…c-can…y-you be my d-daddy?" she asked hesitantly, clearly scared of rejection. I kissed the top of her head, trying to soothe her wild brown hair.

"Sure," I answered, "You even have a brother too."

"Where is he? Is he okay?" she asked, stunning me a bit. She didn't even know Scotty…but I guess when ye go so long without a family, ye immediately worry for what ye get.

"He's on the outside. Free and safe," I replied, holding her gently, "Like we will be."


	2. Chapter 1: Going Up

"Marley, please recap what the hell we're doing. Why are we on a plane when we can fly?" a young man growled from his comfy airplane chair. His skin was pale like someone mixed white with a touch of peach. His eyes were a deep blood red color and his hair was pitch black. It lay in a sort of crown of messy spikes. His wings were an emerald green color and were uncomfortably scrunched against the seat. He was talking to his "brother", a brunette man with tawny wings and green eyes named Marley.

Marley sighed, asking tiredly, "You didn't listen at at the debrief, Harley?" He was slumped against his chair, his lack of energy quite obvious.

"You really think I'm going to give that slime-ball Black any attention?" Harley answered with his own question, smirking lightly at his brother's frustration with his _slight_ immaturity. Marley snorted, shaking his head like he was scolding himself because he expected his brother to listen to his boss.

"We're going to Europe," Marley replied, "Because Boss-man wants us to get rid of some competition. Myth Corps."

"Ah. Then why isn't the whole team here? Why send a few of us?" Harley asked, referring to why all the BIRDS were not on the plane. It was only Harley, Marley, Barley, Arrow, Rose, Dagger, and Caesar on the team for this mission.

"Boss says that this should only take us a few months. Our time limit is up to a year and a half. He doesn't want the others getting cut early from the group. Said something about them needing more training," Marley answered, "So, it's a bit of a test for us."

"Wonderful. Fucking wonderful," Harley growled, turning his attention to the night sky outside his window. His wings itched with his want to fly through the inky black canvas and it aggravated him not to. He growled to himself, closing his eyes and going to sleep.

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><p><em>Her home was burning. All of the trees were lit with oranges and yellows.<em>

_She looked around frantically, trying to find the source. "HELLO?" she cried out before howling loudly. _"Where was her pack? Were they safe?" _she thought to herself, clawing through the burning foliage._

"_No one will answer," a familiar voice chuckled darkly. A horned figure appeared in the flames, lean yet threatening. It brought a heavy sense of evil to her mind and made her heart pump heavily in her ears._

"_LOKI!" she snarled, pouncing at the figure. But she seemed to jump right through him, into a dark deep hole. She screamed as the space seemed to get smaller and smaller, closing in on her._

_Suddenly, it felt like she was thrown into someone's arms. She barely heard the flapping of wings over her pounding heart. Air – sweet, sweet air – rushed over her face, soothing her. A voice rumbled in her ear, "Going up." She looked up and all she saw was her rescuer's red eyes._

A young woman woke up in a cold sweat. She wrapped herself in a purple blanket and stepped out of the hut. The cold night air soothed her as she looked out onto the forest. Nothing was burned. Her pack was blissfully asleep. The moonlight reflected in her eyes, turning them a soft yellow – jonquil. Her brown wolf ears flicked at every unusual sound, locating each one. Her wolf tail was brown and was hidden by the blanket.

"…I wonder what that was all about," she muttered, looking up to the sky as a homeless person would look at a house – something seemingly unreachable.

"Diane! Go back to sleep, lassie! We have a big day tomorrow!" her adopted father's voice echoed from his own hut. The young woman, Diane, smiled lightly as she looked up at the full moon.

"No more dreams like that tonight, okay?" she asked it. It, unsurprisingly, did not answer her. Diane gave a soft howl to it before going back in.

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><p>AN: Please note that this is set before the BIRDS split, which I think is sometime during the time period between CATS vs. DOGS and CATS vs. BIRDS. My reason for using mostly the future bad BIRDS...is mostly because I know them better. Dagger's just in there because Aurorawolfa said she'd be a nice addition to the party (*is totally covering up on how Aurorawolfa forgot that Dagger was a good BIRD*).

This chapter wrote itself. ^^ It was nice...now, if only Define Deity will do that...


	3. Chapter 2: Cthulu

The voice of Harley's little sister, Arrow, woke him from his dreams of carnage. "Harls! Wake up! We can get off this stupid God damn airplane now!"

"Arrow! Language!" Marley's voice called back at her from far away. Hell if Harley knew – he was trying to sleep, God damn it.

"Fine! We can get off this stupid airplane now!" Arrow's voice pulled at Harley's consciousness, making him groan as he tried to hold on to the visions of red dirt and claw marks. "_Haaaaarleeeeeey!_ Get up!"

"I'm gettin', I'm gettin'," Harley mumbled, slowly opening his eyes. Arrow was practically his split image (shaggy black hair, red eyes, pale skin), but she was spliced with a gold finch instead of a linheraptor (holy crap, it was a miracle that he could remember that) and she was a young girl (around six years old – God damn scientists and their stupid habits of hiding things). She was dressed in a black dress that had some rips and tears in it. She pulled his old leather jacket, trying to get him to stand up. He did so, chuckling as he picked up a giggling Arrow. "Why are you so excited?" he asked her, smirking softly.

"We get to kill lots of people, Harls!" she giggled, "And the old lady in my dreams told me that we're gonna meet a lot of new friends."

Harley chuckled, "Sounds fun."

"You two ready to go?" Caesar, the SIC asked. SIC stood for Second In Command – Harley understood the meaning of shortening things to abbreviations. It saved ink in pens and time. Caesar had black hair and grey eyes. Two black wings rested on his back, two red spots on his wings as a result of the red-winged blackbird DNA he was spliced with. He wore a grey turtle neck shirt with no sleeves and black jeans. Behind him was Dagger, a dark grey-haired thirteen year old girl with pale red (not pink – red. Dagger was very clear on that note) eyes and grey wings.

"Yep," Harley answered, putting the giggling Arrow on his shoulders. Caesar nodded, smiling at the sight. They left the airplane, almost marveling at how dark the morning sky was. Thunder clouds filled the air, rumbling. All of the present BIRDS besides Rose and Caesar were unfamiliar with the sight, having not been out of the Sector 7 lab before this mission.

"Why is the sky so gloomy, Marley?" Arrow asked her eldest brother, poking his head from the safety of Harley's shoulders.

Marley answered, "Must be a storm…a big one."

Arrow whimpered, wrapping her skinny arms around Harley's forehead and hugging it as thunder cracked above, "Is someone mad we're here? Or is this one of our new friends?"

"Let's go find out," Rose answered. Rose was a blonde thirteen year old girl who was one of the two leaders of their division (Toby being the other one. Each leader had a SIC). "Caesar, take Harley and Dagger. Everyone else is with me."

Arrow fluttered over to Marley, waving to Harley, "See you soon, Harls!" Harley hid a smile as they took off, flying. He looked to Caesar.

"You sure those communicators will work in this storm?" he asked Caesar.

"Yes," Caesar answered, "It's a dry thunderstorm. No winds, no rains…it's weird. Weirdest thunder I've ever seen."

"This is our first time out of the S7 training grounds," Dagger replied, louder than normal to talk over the thunder, "You've never seen a thunderstorm. We're also dealing with super powered mutants. Weird will be a common occurrence." Caesar smiled down at her fondly, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

"Good point, Cleo," Caesar replied to her, smiling. Harley didn't know what exact emotion was in the SIC's eyes, but he didn't want to sit around to find out. He jumped up, flying off the ground. They were in a clearing, surrounded by trees.

"MOVE IT OR LOSE IT, LOVEBIRDS!" he yelled down at them. He smirked at their snarls, flying high into the sky. Harley looked back, noticing Caesar was having some difficulty flying. They weren't used to the air patterns here. Harley loved how violent the air currents were as they pushed him up and around – he could adapt with it. Harley loved flying with every feather in his wings. But Caesar was never really one for flying – back at S7, he often snuck out of flying practice to go to the library to read some Shakespeare and some scientific bull-crap. Harley never understood it. Harley was snapped out of his daydreams by a roar – a very angry, primal roar like the kind you'd hear when watching Jurassic Park. He followed its source and was surprised they hadn't spotted it before. It was a giant humanoid reptile. Dark green scales covered a muscle mass that had to be the size of a school bus. Its white eyes burned into the BIRDS present, causing a shudder throughout them.

"VIKINGS, ATTACK!" it roared again, releasing all hell as it seemed that hundreds of hybrids poured out of the forest. Harley laughed, dive-bombing a few of them (a redhead man spliced with a bombadeer beetle, a blonde woman spliced with a lion, a seemingly asexual spider splicer). Harley could have kept up with this – he was regenerating his wounds twice as fast as he was taking hybrids down. But he saw Caesar and Dagger out of the corner of his eyes – Caesar had a red bubble shield coming out of his wings and hands as he tried to give Dagger a breather from throwing knives of flame. But it was easy to see that both of them would be down soon from blood loss and lack of energy.

Harley looked for the reptile thing. It was sitting in the back, watching the fight…it seemed like it was waiting for something. It revealed its sharp teeth in a grin as an angry howl echoed across the clearing.

"SHAAAAAAARPTOOOOOOOTH!" the angry female voice howled. Thunder started cracking loudly. Everyone stopped. Harley looked to see who this mysterious woman was. She had long, wild brown hair that was up in a ponytail. Her defiant yellow eyes were set in tan skin that had scars stretched across it. She wore a black collared shirt that had fingerless gloves built in and a pair of jeans with black combat boots. Her hands were cracking with electricity and raised, like she had caught lightning before it even touched the ground.

The reptile chuckled, finally revealing its gender as male, "Fenrir! Finally, the little warrior queen has come to fight. Come at me, tiny monstrosity!"

The woman, Fenrir, snarled and struck out with the electricity in her hands. All of the hybrids fell, immobilized. Caesar and Dagger were protected by Caesar's bubble shield, but Harley felt the voltage.

And hot damn, did it feel good. He yelled out, closing his eyes before falling back and blacking out.

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><p>"But Rosey, she saved Arrow!"<p>

"She's a loose cannon! Her and her little _'pack' _won't bow down and follow our orders."

"She isn't part of S7 – she broke away from Myth Corps. She was the first one to do so. That's gotta mean she's got some fire power. Fire power we obviously need because Black sent us in way unprepared."

Harley groaned, sitting up and opening his eyes. He was in a nest of furs that was situated in the corner of a wooden room. There were two doors and two windows. He could hear his teammates from behind the closed door, but the windows and the open door revealed a bird's paradise – tall trees as far as the eye could see. He slowly got up, moving out of the room to get a better view. They were probably in the forest that he and his teammates landed besides, but this was very deep into the forest. Around the center, he guessed.

"You should be dead," a familiar female voice replied, its tone scolding and confused. He turned to the source and smirked when he saw "Fenrir" from earlier.

"Takes more than a couple million volts to kill me, Fenny baby," he replied, leaning against the railing to face her better. She rolled her yellow eyes.

"My name's Diane, _not_ 'Fenny babby'," she growled tiredly, leaning against the railing next to him, "You'll need to know that if you decide to stay."

"And what makes me so special, _Diane_?" Harley asked, watching her with a relaxed and mischievous look in his eyes.

"Your 'team' is debating over whether to team up with me," she replied, "Without you, they're tied in vote. Three versus three."

"GUYS, HARLEY'S MISSING! OH GOD, I HOPE CTHULU DIDN'T TAKE HIM!" Harley groaned, recognizing the voice as the one that belonged to his younger brother, Barley. He was panicking in the room, unaware that Harley and Diane were watching him run around in circles. "OH ROBERTO, NOW WE CAN'T BE MARRIED! HARLEY WAS GOING TO BE MY BRIDE'S MAID!"

Harley glared as his younger brother rambled to a cocktail wiener (completely decked in a Mexican styled sombrero and a matching poncho). Harley then moved his glare to the laughing woman besides him, his glare softening as she used him a support to keep her from laughing on the floor. It was going to be a long…screw it, he had a headache (not the fun kind in the lower region, if you catch his drift), he was not going to say a clichéd exit monologue.

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><p>AN: I apologize to those of you on here who actually read this story. I thought I updated this weeks ago, but apparently, I didn't. So this chapter and the next chapter are going to uploaded at around the same time to try to make up for it. I'm also almost done typing Chapter 4 of this as well...


	4. Chapter 3: Curtain's Closing

"Is this your gun, Mister…Talley, was it? It's quite nice. Must have cost quite a lot of money…was it paid with some money from your old accounting job or your new job as an investigative reporter?"

The small, gauche me and watch the wing young man study his shotgun, eyes widened in shock as the wings twitched now and again in a show of possible excitement. The young man looked like his hair was a victim of a crazed wind tunnel, the brown hair swept back of the tips and white as snow on the mountain. The gauche man, Mr. Talley, flinched in his binds as the wings spread suddenly to their full length of about 6 or 7 feet. The young man laughed in a debonair manner, clearly enjoying Mr. Talley's fear. He folded his wings again.

"Ah, that seems to have snapped you from your ennui," the young man chuckled, patting the shuddering Mr. Talley on the head, "I apologize. This dimly lit room has sepulchral and vapid tastes to it, doesn't it? I keep asking for a new change, maybe an interior designer to go crazy on it, but it's hard enough to get a plumber here. Now, back to the matter at hand…this gun costs quite an unwieldy amount of money…and according to this serial number, it was stolen about two months ago. I know you didn't do it, Mr. Talley – you were on a list of accountants that were working for the British government. We have security footage for it and several witnesses. So you can relax a little. Hmmm…I wonder if your source loaded the gun…" Mr. Talley's florid brown eyes widened as the young man positioned the barrel of the shotgun into his own mouth – was the young man crazy enough to shoot it while it pointed into his mouth?

He voiced his concern in a sputter, "Blo-bloody 'ell, are yo-you insane?"

"Let's see," the young man answered discursively, his finger pulling the trigger. He didn't even flinch as the gun made a clicking sound. "Like I thought. You were carrying an empty gun to bluff some simple minded oaf. Though I can probably guess that you don't know how to load a gun. Your mother was a widow – nobody taught you how to when you were young like most young boys born in your era. You probably didn't think it was necessary now – you have too much trust in the police. Tsk, tsk, Mr. Talley. You're a reporter now. You should know that knowledge is power, little man…I'm sorry, I'm acting very pretentiously, aren't I? Very rude of me, scaring you out of your wits and what not. I didn't even tell you my name. It's Apollo. Rest assured, I'm not going to kill you. I just want answers. Who gave you the gun and the lead you were tracking?"

"A…a large ma-man," Mr. Talley sputtered in a faint British accent, "Brown-n hair…lar-largest man I've ever se-seen. About eight feet tall, h-he was. Heavy Irish accent. Arms we-were thick as firewood lo-logs." There was a moment of thick, intense silence after Mr. Talley answered. Apollo turned and walked into the darkness that surrounded them. Mr. Talley was alone, tied to a chair. He began to sweat nervously, wondering what the winged man was doing. Apollo had said that he wasn't going to kill Mr. Talley, but lying was obviously a perfected talent the winged man had. He shuddered, imagining how he'd die. Strangling? No, that seemed too simple and brutal for a man like Apollo. The winged man seemed too proud to have someone else kill him, so it'd probably be poison. Mr. Talley nearly jumped out of his skin as Apollo came back, a paper in hand.

"Thank you, Mr. Talley. I just have a few more questions and then Ms. Althea will escort you out," Apollo replied. He held the paper in front of Mr. Talley, letting the small, greasy haired man study it.

"Y-yes, that's hi-him! Except…his hair wasn't that shade of bright orange. Other than that and the scars, they co-could be twi-twins!" Mr. Talley exclaimed.

"Good…this is very good. Where did you meet him?" Apollo asked, a smug smirk growing on his face. Mr. Talley was reminded of a cat that caught a very elusive sparrow.

"A…a pub. It's hard to remember the name…something to do with a maiden…I told him how I got fired from my job and didn't know what to do. He told me to check out being an investigative reporter and gave me a lead on Myth Corps…" Mr. Talley answered slowly. He flinched as Apollo sniffed the air. Was he angry? Or just sniffing for a lie?

"…thank you for your service, Mr. Talley. Ms. Althea, please escort him out," Apollo commanded, turning and walking into the darkness.

"Your wish is my life, Prince Apollo," a young woman walked out of the darkness. Her eyes were completely black – no pupil, no whites. She was bald, had no nose, and her skin was white as paper. She struggled across the room like she didn't know how to use her legs. She was a cadaverous monster. Mr. Talley felt a faint protest rise on his tongue, but Apollo cut him off.

"Please, Ms. Althea, I'm no prince. Just a hunter…a hunter that has the scent of his prey," Apollo chuckled, "Oh, Diane, your act is coming to a close. Curtain time."

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><p>"You should've seen her, Harley! She popped out of nowhere and just caught Arrow before anyone could flap a wing! She was all like Emperor Palpatine with the 'UNLIMITED POWAH!'"<p>

That was Barley's explanation of how Diane had apparently saved Arrow (who apparently got split up from Marley and Barley) because she was falling from a height of around fifty feet. Arrow was immortal, but she still felt pain. Preventing that pain was a top priority for the three Bloodriver brothers.

Harley looked to Marley and asked, "Why doesn't Rose like Diane? She saved one of our own. Hell, she gets fucking brownie points for it being Arrow."

"That's why – Diane's an outsider, not created or trained by S7. Rose sees it as an intrusion – it doesn't help that Diane insulted Rose's leadership skills in front of us," Marley answered, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration, "Rose has to look at the good part of this – Diane has obviously dealt with Myth Corps before. That lizard-man-thing, Sharptooth – he knew her. This is Diane's territory – she'd know it better than any GPS S7 could ever offer us."

"Rose is a proud little bitch. I can probably bet that she's manipulating Caesar and Dagger by blackmail that she's going to hurt the other," Harley replied, equally frustrated by the events, "Ever since her older sister got medic job on that team, she's been so whiny. Then when S7 gave her this job to stop the whining, she takes everything out on the rest of us because we're all family. Remember how Caesar was supposed to get the position of leader?"

"I do, I do!" Barley exclaimed, excited to be part of the conversation, "We threw an epic party to congratulate him! I made my best nachos that day and I even managed to swipe a kario-"

"Barley, it was a night to remember," Marley interrupted, his tone set to appease and quiet his hyperactive brother. Barley grinned.

"It's all bullshit in this division," Harley growled, "Look at Toby's division – they have a leader who is trained to lead. We get an abusive, whiny, power-hungry –"

"It's where we're stationed," Marley interrupted, "Until otherwise, we have to respect Rose. That does not mean we have to like her. Back to the matter at hand…do we all agree that we should work with Diane?"

"Yep," Harley and Barley answered together.

"I still don't like Diane very much. Don't hate her like Rose does, but I don't like her," Harley added, "She trolls me."

"Then we vote that and win," Marley replied, "Then we work to complete the mission in one piece."

"Hey…where's Arrow?" Barley asked, blinking his sea-foam green eyes while scratching his blonde head. (A/N: Yeah…forgot that I didn't give Barley any description to speak of)

Harley answered, "Outside, with Diane." They all looked out the doorway to where Arrow was fluttering around the brunette woman as she hung upside down on a tree branch (said tree branch was about 50 feet from the ground. For someone who couldn't fly, she sure loved heights). Arrow seemed to be telling her life story to Diane, the woman taking note of every word as she swung up to sit on the branch. Arrow seemed to adopt Diane already as an older sister – something Rose had been trying to do for a year. Diane started to tell her own story, Arrow listening with curious, wide eyes. Diane began to make faces and hand motions, entertaining the little girl with ease. Harley almost smiled.

"Aw, that's so cute!" Barley exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear.

"I wonder what her trick is," Marley muttered, watching with curiosity.

"…I don't like her," Harley declared again, "But…I'll work with her. 'Till this is done."

Marley smiled, "I think she'll grow on you."

"You're crazy, Marley," Harley snorted, "She's not my type."

"We're all crazy here, Harley," Marley smirked, replying, "And I think you'll find that you two have more in common than you think."

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><p>AN: Again, I apologize for not uploading this sooner. I'm going to put Define Deity on hold because it may need a reboot (because nothing in that story makes sense to me when I reread it), so there's going to be more focus on this and Seeds. That works for me because, despite what you may think, they're highly related...one of the side-plots in this sets the ground work for CATS vs. DRAGONS as well as the third plot-arc in Seeds. So you may want to read both this and Seeds, as well as the rest of Aurorawolfa's CATS vs. series (I warn you - the first two are rather cliché and filled with plot holes and things) to get the whole picture in place.


	5. Chapter 4: Link of Beginning

"…and this is the training ground," Diane finished her tour of her pack's grounds. The BIRDS looked around at the training grounds. There was about five or so feet of clear land, littered with stumps of trees. Scorch marks were scattered here and there, but the true battle ground seemed to be in the trees. Harley itched for the challenge of flying between trees, but the other BIRDS seemed uncertain and hesitant. He turned, watching Diane as she stepped into the marked circle in the dirt. She looked at him over her shoulder, smirking with a silent challenge. The other BIRDS were still marveling over the height of the trees, Marley and Caesar having a scientific geek out. Harley twisted his head to the right, smirking back at the brunette woman.

The other BIRDS let a squawk of surprise out as Harley pounced through the air, tackling Diane to the ground. They watched in shock as the two fought, clawing and kicking each other like they were fighting to the death. Diane kicked Harley off with a double kick to the stomach, grinning. Harley grinned back as he stood. The two exchanged hooks, Diane dodging each one as Harley threw himself into each one. "You're just full of fun," Harley grunted with a laugh.

Diane laughed, "Only for the right people." She roughly kneed him in the gut, smirking as he groaned. Harley collapsed, smirking back.

"Mar-Mar, are they sparring?" Arrow asked her big brother, looking up at him then back at the fighting duo. Harley was flapping his wings, grinning as Diane flipped up to one of the trees.

"I think so," Marley replied, confused. The only time he had seen Harley so playful was when he got to test out some of the new soldiers S7 had made. Watching him fight with Diane was like watching two puppies play fight. Only…it seemed to have more meaning than that.

"I think they're flirting," Barley whispered loudly, grinning from ear to ear, "Marley, we're going to be _uncles~_." (A/N: The squiggly line at the end of "uncles" is called a tilde. I use it to create a sing-song tone that's rather playful. It has no real use in the English language, so I made one. Just lettin' y'all know)

"Don't assume things, Barley," Marley scolded as his own grin formed on his face. He liked seeing his younger brother happy – it wasn't often that he was.

"Yes, Barley," Rose cut in sharply, practically seething, "Don't assume things. Harley has better taste than that…_bitch._"

The BIRDS looked to their leader, then to each other. A silent promise to talk to each other on this was made. Their attention went back to Harley and Diane, the brunette woman playfully smacking the winged man in the face with her tail as she climbed higher before pouncing on him. They were about twenty feet up, both comfortable with the height. Their laughter rang through the forest.

"By Hecate, haven't heard her laugh like that in ages!" a Scottish accented voice exclaimed. The BIRDS turned, watching an orange haired young man walk up next to them. He had four arms, two folded in front of him and two folded behind him. His bright green eyes watched the fighting duo before turning back to the BIRDS. "'m Scott, by the way. Annie's my sister."

"How much family does she have?" Marley asked curiously, the first to move away from the BIRDS to greet the newcomer.

"The whole pack is her adopted family," Scott answered, "Which makes…let's see, me and the old man, the Elite Hunt, the little ones, and the wounded…about forty. But me and the old man, Octavius, were the first."

"Is Octavius the leader?" Caesar asked, "He is the oldest, by your description, and therefore more experienced."

Scott laughed, "Nay. Annie's the leader. Mostly because of her powers and her slight mythical standpoint. She's an air-kinny, shoots lightning and cracks thunder. Looks much better to have her in charge."

"Diane has aerokinesis?" Marley asked, blinking.

"Yeah. Loves the air like a bird. Kinda makes me sad that she has no wings. It's like a blind human," Scott replied, shaking his head sadly as they watched Diane and Harley fight in mid-air, Harley dropping in height from time to time only to have Diane pull them up again by grabbing a branch.

"A bird born without wings…yeah, that is kind of tragic," Marley replied.

"I can't imagine not being able to fly," Arrow sniffled, "The air is so safe compared to the ground. Nothing bad like bullies and meanies can follow you." She hugged Barley's leg, Barley ruffling her hair in an attempt to comfort her.

"Boo who," Rose replied sarcastically, blowing her blonde hair out of her face, "What are we going to do about Myth Corps?"

"Annie's already on it," Scott replied, "She's assessing your warriors. She probably figured that guy she's fightin' – Harley, right? – was the most aggressive out of all of you." He turned to Rose, smiling, "Trust me – it's way too early for her to have formed an emotional connection or a romantic interest. It took some of the Elite Hunt two years for her to even consider them friends. Smooth your feathers, pretty bird." Rose's aggressive expression turned a little more relaxed at the reassurance and the compliment. "Annie just likes a good fight – to my knowledge, this would be the first time she fought anything with wings. Myth Corps doesn't usually work with avian DNA."

"Why?" Arrow asked, confused.

"Some legal agreement they have with some American company, Section 11 or something. Americans get regular critters, Myth Corps gets 'mythical' creatures. Not a lot of birds under that category are easy to find, not to mention capture. Diane's part hellhound, me and Octavius are part Kraken, Jordan's a drakon, and Helen's a kitsune – just to name a few of us," he replied, shrugging at the BIRDS's shocked expression, "What? They're just rare animals just like any bird, cat, or dog. Now, if they were using dragons, then we'd be in trouble. Thank the Triple Goddess for that the dragons keep the chain hidden so well. Else we'd have almost invincible super-weapons running around."

"Chain?" Dagger asked quietly, "I've read about that somewhere…"

"Don't know the exact name of it, but the last of the dragons have this chain. You could say, scientifically, that each chain link holds the DNA or essence of each dragon," Scott replied, "Dragons hold the world together. Wind, earth, fire, water, darkness, light, and time – there's one dragon left of each, supposedly. Each dragon guards their link. There's a prophecy about one turning psycho, but nobody knows if it's true. We only know all of this because we've talked to one. He's Diane's…mentor of sorts."

"Where is this dragon?" Rose asked, grinning with a scheme on her face.

"Now, that," Scott smirked, snapping with all four of his hands, "Is a secret."

* * *

><p>"Apollo, is that…it, sir? What we're looking for?" Althea asked, stumbling over to the brunette man. Apollo grinned evilly, holding up a silver oval…a chain link. He was covered in blood, his own and something else's.<p>

"The Silver Link of Cyclones," Apollo grinned, clutching it in his hands, "Only six more left to go, Allie. Best be off – can't go to Sylvia with dragon blood on me, can I?"

"She is rather squeamish, sir," Althea replied, her tone indifferent as her black eyes.

Apollo chuckled, "Althea, your humor always brings a light feeling to a bloody victory. Let's go." He took one of her arms, putting it over his shoulders, helping her walk over the body of a dead dragon.

* * *

><p>AN: Hurray for side-plots~

This story has about...four plots that go side-by-side. Two are obvious - Diane & the BIRDS fighting Myth Corps and Apollo doing his secret agent-y stuff. The other two are side-plots that go onto CATS vs. DRAGONS.


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